FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20463

MEMORANDUM

TO:

FROM:

DATE: 

SUBJECT: 

The Commission 

Office of the Commission Secretary VFV 

July 18, 2022

AO 2022-14 (Google LLC) 171 individual 

comments

Attached are 171 individual comments on AO 2022-14 (Google LLC).

Attachment

From: Benjamin Recchie

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC) - No to Campaign ad pilot Program.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:15:20 PM

7\14\22

Dear commissioners,

I urge you to reject Goog;e request to allow campaign emails to evade spam filters. People

have marked those messages spam for a reason, and I do not trust Google (or any other

company) to successfully define what is appropriate or inappropriate in terms of emails and to

follow through and reject them. The status quo is not perfect, but changing this rule is likely to

make it worse.

Thanks,

Benjamin Recchie
From: Michael Lupomech

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC) Political Span

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:17:27 PM

I request that you do not honor Google’s request to reduce the limits on political spam.

I would also ask that you remove the exemption politicians have that allows them to robocall.

Michael Lupomech

Sent from Mail for Windows
From: Rhonda Huffman

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:25:26 PM

I am against Google allowing political campaign emails to by pass spam filtering directly to

the inbox.

The main concern is due to numerous political campaigns for a single candidate. The onus will

be placed on the end user to verify if it is a direct reach out from the political campaigner or

one of the many supporter campaigns dealing mostly for special interests. Also of concern is a

special interest campaign going to be allowed through as well?

Our country is already overwhelmed with erroneous, false, and misleading political sewage

emails, and this has caused immense tribalism that has led to violence. Worse, much of the

"political content" is of foreign origin often seeking to disru[pt our democracy. The FCC

should work on stopping all telephone spam calls, not opening even more venom into our

democracy by relaxing spam filtering

Due to the current political climate, unsolicited campaign emails could potentially skew the

intended bias desired by political actors maliciously abusing the proposed change. The digital

world is the ideal platform for exploitation of abuse with the hidden anonymity by obscuring

of their digital footprint and forging of legitimate credentials. The potential for damage will

already be done on such a large scale, since there is no way Google could properly vet each

email prior to being sent.

If Google wants this to happen in order to appear unbiased, they are capable of creating a

“Political” folder similar to the spam folder and let the end user decide to view the emails. It

will also help with the proper vetting of emails to ensure it is from a trusted source without

potential tampering or hacking from the originator.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Huffman
From: David Tetrick

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:49:51 PM

Dear FEC,

I understand Google wishes to launch a pilot program for authorized candidate

committees, political party committees, and leadership political action committees that

would ensure the emails of accepted committees will not be affected by forms of

spam detection to which they would otherwise be subject. I am writing to register my

opposition to this concept.

First, this is a terrible idea because spam texts, calls, and other outreach from PACs

and political organizations are enough of a problem without adding e-mail to the

mess. I regularly receive unsolicited phone calls and texts from PACs, in which I have

no interest and to which I must spend my time to individually respond to requesting to

be removed from contact lists, despite having no control over how I was added to

those lists in the first place. Allowing this system for e-mail is only going to make this

worse.

Second, PACs are deliberately opaque organizations, going by deceptive names to

imply support for positions I may or may not share, but at no point are they being

honest about their goals. Many benignly-named PACs are actually funded by dark

money and have no interest in any legislative agenda other than the advancement of

the corporation or individual funding them- they certainly don't care about my

interests. The proposal to allow them access to Gmail inboxes only creates more

opportunities for scams and deceptive marketing to take advantage of vulnerable

individuals, and you should not allow this to happen.

Finally, it seems a reminder is in order: your goal is to protect the integrity of the

electoral process. There is absolutely no mandate for you to allow Google to be paid

for additional outreach, or additional advertising, or additional anything, by allowing

this move and corrupting our politics even further. Do not allow this program to move

forward- it is antithetical to your mission and to our democracy.

We already have a problem with spam texts and calls from political organizations and

campaigns- don't waste our time and further degrade our political process by adding

email to that.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen
From: Chris Choe

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 and Google"s Spam Filtering Request

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:58:40 PM

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with utmost urgency that I request that you not consider Google's request to relax filtering

for Political Emails. If anything, Google (and other email service providers) should

collectively be doing more to prevent spamming of political emails.

If the recent election cycles have shown us anything, they've shown the public at large that

campaigning is excessive, ripe for abuse, and open to undue influence of outside actors.

Please ensure this request does not go through and protect the American public.

Very Respectfully,

Chris Choe
From: Nicholas Thrasher

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 Google LLC

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:14:05 PM

Greetings AO!

In response to Google's request to allow registered political groups to bypass spam filters and

land directly in inboxes I would like to register as being *not* in favor of this.

As a gmail user one of my favorite parts of the platform is the excellent spam protection. If a

political entity is encountering spam filtering because their content appears to be illegitimate

communications they should hire better outreach coordinators.

If anything should be done in this regard it should be to route political messages to a separate

secondary inbox so as to reduce the noise in users primary interfaces.
From: Tony Hunter

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:36:36 PM

Greetings

I write to oppose any program or proposal which interferes with my ability to control my

email inbox. Google already has a practical monopoly on search and online advertising. By

ensuring that my eyeballs and attention are guaranteed to be occupied by one special,

preferred class of advertisement, they will further cement this arrangement. Further, it will

place Google in the realm of determining what is and is not political speech for the purposes

of the exception to the law and by extension, who is able to access that exception. I'm sure the

FEC and Google's attorneys will do their best to precisely define those exceptions ahead of

time, but those definitions will hold only until all the other lawyers get their hands on the rules

and find the loopholes.

Please tell them "no."

Anthony Hunter
From: Nick Blazer

To: AO

Subject: Comment Submission on AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:36:58 PM

Please do not allow Google the ability to allow political campaign emails to bypass spam

settings because they have determined the opportunity cost to change the regulations in

secret is lower than creating a marketing program that educates candidates about the

fundamentals of email marketing.

I work in marketing and I have a hand in email marketing. Ever since emails began to be sent,

spam has been an issue and an arms race to cut down on. The industry has responded

appropriately. Here is how the playing field looks currently:

Best practices for as long as I have been involved in this dictate that you can only send

emails to people who consent to receive them.

Best practices have also stipulated that you should have a confirmed opt-in to any email

subscription; that is, they initially sign up, then you send a confirmation email that

requires consent to double check that they in fact signed up for the list.

Because spam is such a problem - not just for the recipient, but also economically for

the sender and the infrastructure - email SAAS providers like Mailchimp, Constant

Contact, and the like monitor the statuses of the email campaigns you conduct and

actively prune your subscriber lists in the background to cut down on the de facto spam

you are intentionally or unintentionally sending using their platforms. This is to account

for bounce backs, unsubscribes, spam blocks, and so on. They also have to do this

because absent third party intervention and legal prohibition (e.g. Canada, the EU), the

incentives to spam are high and the opportunity cost is low.

On top of this, there are credit score-like companies that assign reputations to domains

specifically for the purposes of identifying bad actors and cutting down on spam. Email

providers (the senders like Mailchimp et al) and email platforms (Gmail, Yahoo,

Microsoft Office) use these sender scores to identify and thwart bad actors.

In this industry, we're required to know this. We're required to work with this. That means the

people doing the marketing for political campaigns are required to know and work with this

too.

If political campaign emails are ending up in the spam inbox, its because it IS spam. It IS

unsolicited. It IS unwanted.

Because we don't have laws in the United States prohibiting bad behavior like they do in

Europe and Canada, we also get to tolerate obnoxious things like this:

Donate to a campaign and foolishly give them your email? Congrats! You're going to

get spammed for more donations.

Donate to a political party and foolishly give them your email? Congrats! Every

political candidate for that party that geographically applies to you is going to be handed

your email list and you're going to get spammed for more.
Associated with any political party whatsoever and they have your email address?

Congrats! The party organization is going to hand over their email lists and you're going

to get spammed.

Have an identical name to someone who fits the above and you happen to be on a

purchased email list by a campaign or a party? Congrats! Spam!

Exist on the internet? They're gonna buy your information off of a list and send you

emails anyways. Congrats! Spam!

But wait! I'm not finished yet. Allowing our email inboxes to bypass these settings for a

specific subgroup is going to have unintended consequences, or to use the fun economic term,

externalities.

If they succeed in these efforts, that requires maintaining a continually updated database

of known political candidates. That database is subject to abuse, including ideological

gatekeeping by the organization, and is a threat to any US citizen who desires to run for

elected office and does not fit the ideology they - or any email platform for that matter -

favor, whether it is now or at any time in the future. Or, perhaps they partner with the

political organizations themselves, and act as a gatekeeper to prevent challengers to the

status quo in the primary elections. Allowing this opens up Pandora's box in a very

easily abusable and unaccountable way.

One could argue that creating these exemptions is creating a perpetual in-kind political

contribution to every campaign that bypasses the spam filter. This gets into a fuzzy area

based on how marketing and sales works because you have an initial dollar values

associated with the email address ([1] the first donation, which is a primary goal; [2] the

vote cast, which also has an identifiable monetary value based on the effort to reach,

mobilize, and convert the person at the ballot box), as well as lifetime values (LTVs)

with the email addresses (how much does the campaign on average expect the email

recipient to contribute in donations over the lifetime of the candidate's political career?

how many times do they expect to get a vote from a given email account, on average?)

This will create another subset of bad actors in the spam space who will seek to emulate

political campaign correspondence for the purposes of phishing and other schemes.

So in sum, please, please, PLEASE do not allow this change.

Nick Blazer
From: Sean Lively

To: AO

Subject: Comment to Google"s Request for Opinion on Pilot Program

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:43:24 PM

I am completely uninterested in yet another loophole for political spam to reach me.

I receive unwanted phone calls.

I receive unwanted text messages.

I receive unwanted mail at home.

All of these methods have exceptions carved out for politicians, and I strongly protest yet

another invasion of my mental health in the name of Politics.

Sean Lively
From: David Rosenberg

To: AO

Subject: Comments in Opposition to Advisory Opinion Request 2022‐14 re Google’s Pilot Program to Permit Political

Campaign Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:55:53 PM

Dear Chairman Dickerson

Please please please do NOT allow google to permit more spam on its email service. There is

already so much spam and pfishing.

This will be a huge drain on my productivity and that of so many Americans...in whose

interest?

And, this just opens the door to more garbage and more abusing emails. My aging parents

have frequently succumbed to pfishing emails and struggle to distinguish between legitimate

and illegitimate fundraising mails. When fundraisers knock on my physical front door, I can

decide to not answer at all and they go away or I can answer and carefully check them out.

The same should apply to my virtual front door. If I don’t want them in, I shouldn’t have to

use a shovel to get rid of them.

I am stongly AGAINST this move by google that is in nobody’s best interest.

Thank you

David Rosenberg

Brookline, MA
From: DB

To: AO

Subject: DO NOT ALLOW GOOGLE TO CHANGE SPAM FILTERS FOR POLITICS

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:58:23 PM

I respectfully request that you do not allow Google to alter its spam filters so that politicians'

emails land in any version of my Gmail inbox. I should retain the right to have complete

control over who is allowed to email me, and spam filters should be set to filter ANY

unsolicited mail, to include those with political motivations. To allow this move is the

equivalent of receiving unwanted junk in my USPS mail box, which USPS has shamefully let

spiral out of control. If a person desires to receive political emails, there is sufficient

opportunity to do so via any number of websites. PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW GOOGLE TO

CHANGE ITS DEFAULT SPAM SETTINGS FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES.

Thank you,

Daniel Bradley 
From: Keith Lindstrom

To: AO

Subject: Gmail Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:38:24 PM

Do NOT allow Google to exempt political ads from spam. The politicians in this country must comply with all laws

and rules like everyone else. They do not constitute a special class of citizen, even though they think they do.

Thanks.

Sent from my iPhone
From: Steve Hebert

To: AO

Subject: google request to "allow" political ads directly into recipient email boxes

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:13:15 PM

a thousand times "NO"

this would be insanity and would seriously stifle 'normal/ongoing' email conversations by super-cluttering the 'SoapBox' into a non-accessible // usable condition.

thank you for listening

steve hebert

eugene, oregon

From: Tina L.

To: AO

Subject: Google Email Request Regarding Political Emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:36:25 PM

Dear FEC,

As a Google (Gmail) user and a

voting citizen in this country, I ask

that you NOT allow unsolicited

political emails to be sent to Gmail

users. I do not see any benefit for the

user and, I believe it would instead,

pose security risks, abuses to

privacy, and open the door to

additional foreign influence in our

country's elections.

Virus-free. www.avg.com
From: Keith D Danner

To: AO

Subject: Google FEC request regarding political e-mails. OPPOSE

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:16:55 PM

To whom it may concern,

I strenuously object to Google's request that political e-mail no longer be subject to spam

filters.

thanks,

Keith Danner

Irvine, California
From:

To: AO

Subject: Google pilot program for political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:56:30 PM

FEC commissioners:

Please don’t allow Google to route political campaign emails to land directly in my inbox or anyone else’s inbox.

This is a terrible idea. Keep these types of emails where they belong: in the spam folder. These emails don’t need

unfettered access to my anyone’s inbox, especially when they never signed up to receive such emails in the first

place.

Martin Malacara
From:

To: AO

Subject: Google political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:19:26 PM

Good afternoon,

Both as a long-time Google (Gmail) user as well as a voting citizen in this

country, I plead with you not to allow unsolicited political emails to be sent to

Gmail users. There is no conceivable benefit for the user and, instead, poses

security risks, abuses to their privacy, and opens the door for further foreign

influence in our country's elections.

Thank You,
From: Nick Jeswald

To: AO

Subject: Google Political Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:16:29 PM

I don't want political spam cirvumventing my filters. I get enough robocall spam due to my

government's failures, please don't make the overall situation worse.
From: Michelle Hartz-Coutts

To: AO

Subject: Google Proposal on political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:58:39 PM

I understand that Google corporation has requested that political emails be made

exempt from spam filtering.

Please do not permit this. Please don't. It's analogous to not letting people change the

channel on their own TVs--or turn them off at will.

Please protect my right to choose and limit my own communications. Please consider

private citizens' needs over those of the corporations you regulate.

Please.

Michelle Hartz
From: Joe

To: AO

Subject: Google request for increase political emails.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:26:09 PM

If these emails are not recognized and partitioned by spam filters and go to primary inboxes

then subscribers will be subject to UNWANTED EMAILS.

Please do not approve this request.

M. Wilson

Hawthorne, NJ

Sent from Mail for Windows
From: Timothy Zeddies

To: AO

Subject: Google request to bypass spam filters for political email spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:03:52 PM

NO NO NO. Filters exist for good reasons, and WE the users should be in charge. Now, if

Google is doing this to get paid by the political spammers, they should have to share the

profits with us. Life is too short to delete all the email not worth reading already.

Timothy

Best wishes for a colorful future!
From: Darcie Gillett

To: AO

Subject: Google wanting political ads to bypass spam folders.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:51:34 PM

I am against this proposal. I have found that when I donate online or answer a poll to any

particular group that's even remotely political, within days I'm getting political ads from

groups I haven't heard of. Upon researching, inevitably those new e-mails, ads, etc., are

usually a result of my e-mail info being shared to "sister" organizations.

Those ads need to stay in the spam folder. Humans are capable of checking their spam boxes

and can easily move an article from their spam folder to any othe folder they desire.

TELL GOOGLE THE FEC REWUIRES THEM TO KEEP THEIR SPAM FILTER AS

DEFAULT FOR POLITICAL ADS.

Thank you for your time.
From: Dawn Morse

To: AO

Subject: Google’s Request to Remove Automatic Filters on Political Span

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:04:22 PM

Hello,

Political spam should be automatically filtered. Just like other spam.

Google sent a request to the FEC this month that asked for a green light on a program that

would essentially let it rip when it comes to political emails, which would no longer be

susceptible to spam filters following the proposed move and get a direct line to primary

inboxes.

Do not accede to Google’s request. I don’t want this junk in my mailbox. I’ll ask for political

emails when I want them. No interest in being force-fed by well-funded PACs.

Thanks.

Dawn Morse
From: David Hutchinson

To: AO

Subject: Google"s application to allow political mail to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:20:36 PM

Absolutely, under no circumstances should political mail be awarded special consideration

with regard to spam filters.

There are plenty of civic considerations that are good reasons to prevent this - think of the

attempted January 6th insurrection, with hateful and seditious rhetoric and misinformation

regarding the election being spread through political email, that users absolutely should have

the authority to block.

But, as a professional in the field of IT Security, this is unequivocally bad for security. One of

the most important functions of a spam filter is to eliminate phishing attacks spread through

email, as well as any number of malicious email and malware.

There are 3,006 counties in the US, and 19,495 incorporated municipalities. There are also

additional special districts - school districts, water districts, etc. - and each one of those has

multiple offices, and each office has multiple candidates campaigning for election to those

tens of thousands of public offices.

In an election cycle, there could easily be 100,000 candidates for office across the country.

How likely is it that each of those 100,000 campaigns has robust security? It really only takes

one campaign to be compromised by malicious hackers to be used as a launching point for

phishing attacks, misinformation, and malware, all of which will now travel unimpeded

through Google's firewall (and other providers, if they choose to opt into that as well).

This is monumentally bad. Please deny Google's attempt to weaken spam and malware

protectins.

-David Hutchinson
From: Alice Sproul

To: AO

Subject: Google"s relaxed spam request

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:05:23 PM

Please!! Please!! DO NOT ALLOW GOOGLE TO SEND OUT

UNSOLICITED POLITICAL EMAILS TO ME OR ANY OTHER GMAIL

USER!! BY RELAXING SPAM FILTERS YOU WILL BE ENCOURAGING

CORPORATE PROFITEERS TO MANIPULATE THE SYSTEM AND GET

AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE...NOT TO MENTION YOU WILL BURDEN

EMAIL RECIPIENTS!!!

THANK YOU!!

ALICE SPROUL

From: M L

To: AO

Subject: I say NO to political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:23:14 PM

Please do not allow Google to allow political emails past their spam filters. The

amount of unwanted emails is already problematic enough. I do not want more

unwanted email contact.

Madonna Laws-Lowell

Crestwood, MO
F om a yaege

To AO

Subject No elaxed spam filte s on pol t cal emails!

Date Thu sday July 14 2022 1 05 35 M

By def ni ion of 'spam' in what way s recei ing more of 'some of it'

a good thing? Particularly he 'some of it' hat -someone elsedecided that you should be exposed to? Th s is also a wonderful way to

create a whole host of new scams o exploit ulnerable people gi en

an air of legitimacy as hey are presen ed w th the permission of the

company people ha e ent us ed heir pri acy w th.

85% of all US citizens own a smartphone

(ht ps //gcc02.safelinks.protection outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewresea ch.org%2Finternet%2Ffactsheet%2Fmob le%2F& data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7C20eb6d3 f9f8 ee0c77108da65bb0ec5%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 1513538208 5%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDAiLCJQI oiV2luMzIiLCJBT I6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C& sda a=9Wrxup nomnrC9qI0RJCTqg7rV3QVdSB%2B7GfFps6RqU%3D& reser ed=0).

If you own

a smar phone you ha e seen a subscribe but on and f gured out what

hose are for. We' e collec i ely decided as a society that physical

unk mail telemarketers and by log cal ex ension spam is bad and

f we didn't expl c tly sign up for our pri acy should be respected.

Do not gi e Google (or anyone) the abili y to o erstep hat boundary.
From: Suzanne

To: AO

Subject: No to Google and non-spam political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:03:00 PM

Hi.

Please vote NO to Google making political emails non-spam.

Respectfully,

Suzanne Baugh

~ Sent from my iPhone, therefore, all typos, leaps of logic, unclear comments and generally bad ideas should be

attributed to this really, really small virtual keyboard.


From: Effie

To: AO

Subject: Please don"t let political mail bypass spam filtering

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:15:43 PM

Political campaigns are super spammy and already do a lot to fill up my inbox. I can't imagine

how much worse it would be, especially since they share information for each other so I get

political emails for states I don't live in just because I donated to a similar candidate in my

own state.

Thank you,

Effie Seiberg
From: Jeremy Goldson

To: AO

Subject: Political campaign emails are SPAM

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:01:37 PM

Dear whoever this concerns; those people monitoring this comment line:

I am writing to oppose Google's efforts to remove spam filters from political messaging organizations or

campaigns. The United States already has a massive problem with campaign spending and the overall

approach to campaigning, and politicians (obviously) have resisted any attempts to reign in their

spending and the breadth of their reach.

Allowing Google, as massive an influencer as the entire United States Government, to allow these

insidious emails a direct route to our inboxes would be another horrible misstep in the wrong direction.

We need to minimize and further restrict the reach of political campaigns and messaging. We need to

allow everyday citizens to access and interact with the issues, parties, and candidates on their own terms.

The pendulum has swung far too far in the last two decades towards the political entities. Continuing to

force email companies, such as Google, to label this pablum as SPAM is vital to all of our quality of life.

Respectfully,

Jeremy Goldson

Denver, Colorado
From: ek

To: AO

Subject: political email bypassing spam filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:53:59 PM

Hello, tell these entities to go through spam like all unsolicited political email does at this

time.

*Please don't open the foodgates!* Some company will put up a new alternate email

comparable to what Gmail has been - up to now.

It is irrelevant if/that Google shows preference to certain political emailers as the volume

alone will make wading through an inbox similar to most email providers prior to Gmail in the

first place.

Most political entities will find a way if they can but please for the Love of God, don't let the

filter down.

Thanks. And don't be evil.

I love change but do not love changing my email address bc of this.
From: John Anderson

To: AO

Subject: Political email is spam.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:48:27 PM

Hello, I'm writing to say I oppose Google's proposal to not make political emails susceptible to

spam filters. Thank you, John Anderson, Michiana Shores IN 46360
From: David Konopacki

To: AO

Subject: Political Email Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:59:30 PM

Hello,

I am writing today to implore you not to allow Google to bypass spam filtering with political

emails.

I am less concerned about myself (though I do get in excess of 25 political emails a day from

politicians who are not my representatives, or even in my state), but rather the situation for

those who are not tech-savvy enough to create a dynamic filter to catch them. 

When every email from both sides of the aisle assure you that the world will end if you don't

donate immediately, this will only lead to political fatigue and apathy. If both sides are

playing Chicken Little about the other it would be very easy to assume that nothing you do

matters. As a voter in every election, local and national, I do not believe this, but I can

certainly foresee and understand it.

Thank you for your time and attention.

David Konopacki
From: Bob Bailey

To: AO

Subject: political email

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:36:21 PM

Please, please, please, PLEASE do not agree to Google's request to remove political emails from spam

filters. We have to deal with enough crap emails every day without adding another ton to them.

Thank you,

Robert Bailey
From: Margaret Dioguardi

To: AO

Subject: Political emails *SHOULD* go through a spam filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:16:46 PM

Your job is to protect the American consumer, not corporations. Do *NOT* allow google to

move forward with a program that would allow political emails to bypass a spam filter. It is

not your job to help Google and other multi billion $ orgs make more money at the expense of

our privacy. Ti's bad enough that our govt allows these orgs to avoid paying *any* taxes and

now you are helping them make more $$ at our expense.
From: Norm Janoff

To: AO

Subject: Political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:53:30 PM

Regarding Google's request to send political emails that bypass spam filters and go to one's primary

inbox account, this clearly violates the intent of having various filters to control one's email.

Political emails should not have any kind of beneficial treatment vs. other emails that are sent to an

individual.

Norm Janoff


From: D N

To: AO

Subject: Relaxation of spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:23:42 PM

To whom it may concern,

I'm writing with regard to the proposed relaxation of spam filters for political purposes.

DON'T!!!!

Once that door gets opened google will be back to the trough for more. It's already difficult

enough to keep spam to a minimum. PLEASE don't allow them to make this end run around

the few measures we have to keep politicians, candidates, and pacs out of our inboxes.

It's called spam for a reason!!!

Thanks,

DPost
From: Susan McDonough-Wachtman

To: AO

Subject: spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:29:43 PM

I DO NOT WANT political emails arriving in my primary inbox without my

consent!!!

Susan McDonough-Wachtman

boldly sends her heroines where they don't want to go

https://susanmcdonoughwachtman.wordpress.com/
From: A Malloy

To: AO

Subject: Advisory Opinion Request 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:48:46 PM

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for extending the comment period for this case.

Please deny Google's request to ease spam filters regarding political emails.

Please, also, redact my email address from the published list of comments (i.e. the From line).

Kind regards,

A. Malloy
From: David Kennedy

To: AO

Subject: Allowing political emails to bypass SPAM filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:52:30 PM

To whom it may concern,

Really? So letting people who identify as "politically adjacent " to have a free pass to SPAM

email, with full impunity, is a good idea in anyone's estimation? (other than the "politically

adjacent"). This is a horrific idea. SPAM is SPAM. Specifically, unrequested, unwanted, mass

emails from unknown sources. This is basically the definition of SPAM.

DO NOT AGREE TO THIS. Now done with the all-caps statements. We have a pandemic of

baloney emails scamming people, specifically seniors and stupid people of their hard earned

money. Thousands, if not millions, of scammers spend all day long every day trying to figure

out how to steal people's money. Allowing yet another avenue, an avenue allowed by Google

and supported by the US government has got to be the stupidest idea since Pet Rocks.

Ask yourself: If some old lady gets scammed out of her life savings because someone sends

her an email that allows her to donate some small amount of money to which she is

sympathetic, and she chooses to do so. But at the bottom of the email is a box, automatically

checked, that allows recurring deductions of that same, or increasing amounts from that same

account. The Republican Party and 45 both did this, and they are both at least moderately legit

and responsible. Think of how many emails to "Save the Babies Fund For Congressional

Action", "Save the whales to overthrow the right wing", etc. are going to be sent with the exact

same type of mechanisms used in the past, and how many people are going to lose all their

money. Feel good about allowing this BS?

Dave Kennedy
From: Michael Schickling

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC) comment

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:48:36 PM

Please, for the love of God, do not allow Google to let political emails through the spam filter.

I already get enough garbage, and it's simply impossible to get your email off a list once it's

on.

Thank you
From: Ken Pugh

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:59:24 PM

This is a *bad idea*. People are buried under enough spam mail as it is. If politicians are

allowed to bypass spam filters with unsolicited pleas for $$ or votes, the average American

will lose even more respect for our political system.

It's bad enough that I've somehow been targeted by both the DNC and MAGA, with random

solicitations either trying to panic me into contributing or just scare-mongering in general.

Please don't take away our ability to tune out the shrill screams of the piggies trying to get

into/more-of the governmental financial trough.

Thank you,

K Pugh

Registered (Very Annoyed) Voter
From: Andy MacBride

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 should be a hard no

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:45:35 PM

Please do NOT allow “political emails” to get a pass from spam filtering. Bad idea, please don’t make bad policy.

Andy MacBride
From: Dylan MacDonald

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:53:27 PM

The solution to letting political emails arrive in users’ inboxes is not to mandate a

spam filter bypass by the email providers. the solution is to have the senders write

fewer and less spammy emails.

Do not let the political parties work the refs on this.

Dylan
From: Mike Lindner

To: AO

Subject: Campaign ads

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:45:51 PM

Dear FEC,

Please do not allow campaign ads to bypass spam filters. Their freedom of expression must be

coupled with “my” (all of our) freedom not to listen. Their freedom to express their political

views can’t be more important than my freedom to refuse to listen to a sometimes barrage of

campaign messages.

Thank you,

Dr. Michael Lindner

Port Washington, NY

NOTICE: This email and any attachments may contain confidential

and proprietary information. This email is intended solely for the

intended addressee, and remains the property of Dr. Michael

Lindner. Dissemination, copying or other use of this email or any of

its content is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not

the intended recipient please inform Dr. Lindner immediately via

return email and destroy the email and any copies. Further, this email

is not encrypted and is not secure. To have secure/private

communication with Dr. Lindner, you must speak with him in

person. Due to the non-secure nature of email, the confidentiality

of this communication cannot be guaranteed. Please use discretion

when sending information that is private or sensitive in nature. Also,

please note that I do not maintain 24-hour access to emails,

voicemails, phone calls, or texts. If you need immediate assistance,

please go to your local emergency room, call 911or 1-800-273-8255 -

the National Suicide Help Line, or contact Crisis Text Line

at crisistextline.org (or text the word Home to 741741.) If you need

help or safe shelter, call the State’s Domestic Violence

Hotline at 800-942-6906.
From: dziban303

To: AO

Subject: Comment on Google"s pilot program

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:38:05 PM

Hello FEC,

I think allowing political spam to land in everyone's inbox is a terrible idea. Others have

articulated excellent reasons why and I can't improve on what's been said already, so I simply

ask you add me to the "No" column.

Thank you.

-Dziban Molniya

New Orleans, LA
From: Edward Richmond

To: AO

Subject: Comment to Google"s request for opinion

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:03:10 PM

To the FEC:

I write to convey my disapproval of Google's proposed pilot program to relax anti-spam rules

for political messages.

I am not a subject-matter expert. I'm just an ordinary American who takes the position that if I

wish to receive campaign messages and other political communications, I am capable

signining up to receive them. If I want to be exposed to political discourse, I am wholly

capable of making that decision for myself. I do not support ANY program designed to make

it harder for me to prevent unsolicited political messages from reaching my inbox.

Any plan that would result in more unsolicited political communications in my inbox is a

bad plan, from my perspective.

It's already routine for me to receive official political messages that slip past my spam filters.

I've received unsolicited messages associated with candidates from both the Democratic and

the Republican parties.

Never, not even once, has my response been favorable to the political cause that reached out to

me. To the contrary, I always create an additional filter that ensures I won't hear from the

offending e-mail address--or any other e-mail address belonging to the same domain.

Ladies and gentlemen of the FEC, I have absolutely no reason to think that I'm exceptional in

my abject hatred of political spam, regardless of the originating party. Google's pilot program

is not a step that most Americans will welcome. We already receive more communication

from political campaigns than we would like. Please keep the current restrictions in place. If I

decide in the future that I wish to receive e-mail communications from a political candidate or

organization, I'm fully capable of ensuring that I do so.

Sincerely,

Edward Richmond
From: grokspawn

To: AO

Subject: gmail pilot to whitelist spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:57:36 PM

My folks get lots of #InsertOutrageNow spam, and we just barely keep that in check while

working with their ISP's filtering.

Now you're opening the door to making it impossible to restrict the flow of garbage email

because one party's communications are indistinguishable from spam (without manual

intervention / filter training)?

Now you want to provide entrée to "you must accept transmission of information about X

because we are Y" where the law of unintended consequences is that consumers will have no

control over X or Y, and have to face the ever-escalating choice to flee the platform or submit

to reduced control over what they receive.

I'd unsub. So will everyone else who isn't tied to that email address (or can arrange to not be).

So let's be honest here. What's really going on is that Republicans want to hurt "big internet"

by forcing them to adopt practices which will provoke an exodus. All that is missing is for

them to wrap themselves in the flag and claim it's "for the children". 

Regards,

-j-
From:

To: AO

Subject: Google SPAM FILTER

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:25:16 PM

Hello,

In response to the possibility of Google diluting its spam filter surveillance for my

incoming emails, PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO DO IT!

I am a senior citizen who relies on those spam filters to protect me from malware

PLUS all the pornography, lies, etc. which people try to contact me about or worse

steal from me. I am extremely careful about all aspects of my life so as to ensure I

am not taken advantage of and GOOGLE spam filter is just one very important part of

taht strategy. If need be, I or any one could go into the spam setting and review the

emails which have been reflagged by Google.

When I watch television, I see ads which are totally misleading, sponsored by elusive

organizations whose sole purpose is to get someone to vote for people or issues

which will favor a small minority but is bad for the masses. Examples of this are gun

control and price controls on medicines. I have an opinion on both but I formed that

opinion by reading legitimate articles available to me on the internet and in the press.

Please say no for the little man and tell the politicians and political organization I do

not want their misleading garbage to fill up my email box,

Jack Ross

Having three grandchildren means never having one bad day AND

I am Penn State!
From: Julie Pilant

To: AO

Subject: Google"s proposal for political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:07:42 PM

PLEASE do not allow Google to treat Gmail users as a captive audience for political

campaigns and fundraising! I strongly object to being force-fed those types of messages--

there's nothing beneficial about this, and it's certainly not in the public's best interests.

Julie Pilant

Colorado Springs, CO

From: Ehud Gavron

To: AO

Subject: On requiring email service providers not to block unsolicited email

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:43:36 PM

Dear FEC Commissioners,

I have been voting in every election since my 18th birthday. I

am familiar with candidates, platforms, and analysis of their

promises or demands. I do not feel a lack of information is

evident nor do I want unsolicited "helpful" messages.

Any of you at the FEC are welcome to write me back at my email.

I have this email address so I can communicate with people with 

whom I choose to communicate. It's the same reason I have a telephone

number. You'll note that it's about what I want to receive, not

what you could force my email provider to send my way.

My personal choice to have an email address in no way is a license

for political email to fill it up. My personal choice to have a phone

is in no way a license for political phone calls.

Our election system in this country is not without its issues. I would

think there are bigger things to work on long before we start allowing

politicians to fill our inboxes or our voicemail.

If all other issues with US elections were fixed this evening, even then

I would not want any company being required to forward content I

don't want. Some people say that companies like Google provide a

service on their platform and they can do whatever they want. This

is a misunderstanding of the contract between the end-user and the

email provider (e.g. Google). As a business that uses Google's mail,

has a contract for that service, and pays monthly, it is an absolute

given that Google must deliver email addressed to me to my 

mailbox, providing that (as part of that service) I can choose filters.

My filtering of email is a neverending arms race to detect the email

I want and send it on through to my mailbox, and to detect the email

I don't want and do something else with it.

Our election system can use some help. Allowing more "spam" and

especially from liars, crooks, fraudsters, and orange people is not

that answer. The FEC is entrusted with a lot of responsibility, and

it is my opinion that it should maintain its focus on elections, and

leave email issues alone. For every person who "wants" to receive

spam from politicians there are many others that do not.

Having the right to ignore or reject political drivel does not

diminish our electoral system, does not prevent politicians from

buying airtime or getting their message across to us, the voters.
Would you like to make a difference? Regulate the politicians.

When they send out a message have them swear under oath that 

all of the stuff they say is the absolute truth (minus opinion pieces).

That should cut out a lot of the "noise" and allow more honest

and fair elections.

If you're unsure about this, walk outside and poll people if they

want political spam, robocalls, etc. Then ask yourself why you

are considering taking an action that regulates private businesses,

forces speech into their "mouths" in violation of the First Amendment

to our Constitution, instead of improving our election systems.

You are entrusted by us to deal with election issues. Please do so.

Sincerely,

/s/

Ehud Gavron

Tucson, Arizona
From: Kirsten Neilsen

To: AO

Subject: Please, NO (re: Advisory Opinion Request 2022-14 (Google LLC) )

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:55:18 PM

The subject line says it all.

-- Kirsten Neilsen
From: Michael Robinson

To: AO

Subject: Political Email SPAM

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:19:51 PM

Dear FEC,

I am opposed to changing the rules about political emails and SPAM. If anything, you need to be making the rules

more restrictive. Political SPAM is 75% of the SPAM I get and I’m sick of it. Thank you.

Michael M Robinson
From: Dana Dolan

To: AO

Subject: Political emails spam filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:25:46 PM

Let me be clear about this:

ALL political emails should be subject to spam filtering.

That is, they should be subject filtering by the email provider’s app and/or filtering that I choose to add.

Sent from my iPad
From: Ervin, Peggy

To: AO

Subject: Political spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:53:29 PM

No way.

No thanks.

Please no.

Nope.

Heck no.

Nyet.

PLEASE NOTE: This message and any response to it may constitute a public record, and therefore may be available upon request in

accordance with Ohio public records law. (ORC 149.43)

This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain private, confidential,

and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient,

employee, or agent responsible for delivering this message, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the

original e-mail message.
From: Lee B

To: AO

Subject: political spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:48:08 PM

I don't like any kind of spam. I routinely get political spam form letters every time I write to a

politician. Like this email, I've quit using my identifiable, regular email address because no

matter what politician I send an email to, Democrat or Republican, I always start getting spam

that there's a "competitive race" 2000 miles from my home and I need to send money to them

to put more Democrats or Republicans in office. I NEVER get a reply about the issue I emailed

that politician about. And my email address apparently gets sold or given to their national or

state or local organizations (too many to name) . And I can't actually get in contact with any

politician. Their emails are read by some staffer who then does nothing more than give my

email address to some fundraisers. The ONLY reason that politicians can ignore my DO NOT

CALL listing and can robo call me and spam me, if because THEY MAKE THE RULES. 

Part of what's wrong with the United States is that politicians no longer are in touch with their

constituents. All they contact us for is money and only during election cycles. They never

contact us for our opinions on their important decisions. Now, I understand that we have a

republican form of government (meaning, I doubt you know, that we elect representatives to

make laws for us and we don't vote on every single law - it's a representative form of

government and our representatives make the laws). But that doesn't mean that they can

abuse their positions and harass me for all time to give them my money. I'm not giving my

money to any of them. All any of them can get from me is my vote.

Not only do I want you to disapprove Google's plan, but I would like to see politicians make

their own follow the same rules for spam and telemarketing as business. A shocking concept.

These are my email addresses. My phone numbers. I pay money for them. I don't want some

staffer bothering me for money. I would be SUPRISED into cardiac arrest if I EVER got a phone

call from a politician asking me for my opinion of an issue. I once had a politician come to my

door (a few days before the election) and I shut him down because he wasn't there about any

of our issues he was there to beg for money and my vote. And that punk, who got elected by

the way, was the CEO of a non-profit that did nothing more than put on a parade annually and

he made over $100,000 a year to organize a damned parade. I gave him my opinion of that,

which was, "You could get a better job that contributed to my community better than

parades". And he left. I've never heard from him on any real issue. But I will give him some

credit when a neighbor called him about a bunch of criminals who were in the neighborhood

and he called the police, who responded for him.

The Internet has not only made a lot of information available to me, but it's also put a log of

grifters, including politicians, in touch with me. I read everything with a critical eye. But I
don't read everything. I'm not really interested in becoming victim to deep fakes or

disinformation. The entire country would be better if we didn't spend so much time online

and if so many things that people want online were actually available for free. But this has

evolved slowly. First the Internet was the Wild West free for everyone and mostly porn.

People got addicted to being online. Fast forward to today and people actually think it's

important to read their spam email or some nonsense that doesn't affect them. They will look

at the Internet on their phones while crossing a busy street. It's insane. And those people

who are so obsessed with every communication, like it's really important, are the people

you're going to harm with your rule because they'll give money to politicians just because they

get an email.

I lost a dear 72 year old neighbor to health problems because she couldn't afford her

medications. She was a government retiree who lived on about $4500 a month. But when

her daughter and I went through her records after her death, she could afford giving her

candidate $20 EVERY MONTH. And she "donated" to every cause under the Sun. All spam

and all legal. But it killed her. She used to bum money and canned food for her and her cat

from me. If you had blocked political spam before she gave her money away, she MIGHT be

alive today. But our politicians can't even make the Internet backbones stop illegal

communications from thieves - so now they're just joining the game.

Frankly, I've been voting for politicians who DON'T ask me for money.
From: Wastrel Way

To: AO

Subject: Proposal to allow political committees to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:52:07 PM

Do not do this. It probably exceeds your authority, but it is a bad idea anyway.

The government cannot be a censor. But individuals and companies can. I reserve the right to

censor any unsolicited communication to me. This includes a person asking me for change on

the street or a politician asking me for money or a vote. There are certain communications

that I detest, such as ones from the IRS, but they may give me useful information and I have

opted in to receiving them merely by being a US citizen. Others, for example, spam advertising

("Eat THIS to lose weight!") I can filter out. I cannot be required to opt in to political

advertising, and I want to be able to filter it, too.

Eric
From: Matthew Webb

To: AO

Subject: Re: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:53:01 PM

Folks,

To put it concisely - NO. Spam filters are there for a reason and that includes any political campaign I

have not expressly requested to receive information from.

Regards,

Matthew Webb

From: Jeff Stern

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:04:27 PM

No, just no. No more Spam, no more unsolicited texts from compaigns,

no more unsolictited email from compaigns no more ANYTHING from compaigns.

--jeff stern
From: Paul Ward

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:53:22 PM

Not only do I not want political emails to bypass spam filters or settings, I want an easy way to permanently opt-out

of physical political mailers as well. They’re a waste of time, money, and paper and they all go straight into the

recycling.

Paul Ward
From: Brian Meadors

To: AO

Subject: Comment on AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:25:18 PM

Please do not allow political emails to bypass spam filters. Not only would that exemption be

an obnoxious intrusion, it also would constitute a donation in kind.

 1. Spam is spam. Unless I specifically opt-in to an email list, I don’t want it. 

 2. Bypassing a filter is a service. The fact that the bypass would be nonpartisan is

irrelevant. Lots of companies donate to both parties; that fact doesn’t make their activities

non-donations. Similarly, Google rendering a service to all political ads is still a service, ergo,

still a donation in kind. 

Brian Meadors
From: Adam Rothman

To: AO

Subject: Comment on Google’s request for opinion on political email pilot program

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:23:08 PM

To whom it may concern at the FEC,

Google is asking for the FEC’s opinion on whether political campaign emails should be

allowed to bypass Gmail spam filters.

I cannot stress enough how strongly opposed to this I am. My physical mailbox is already full

to bursting with unwanted mail, for which I did not sign up. Please do not allow the same

thing to happen to my email inbox.

Thank you,

Adam Rothman
From: F M

To: AO

Subject: Comment to Google"s Request for Opinion on Pilot Program

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:46:01 PM

Dear FEC,

Google is asking for the FEC's opinion on whether Google can institute a pilot program which

allows the email sent to Gmail users from political candidates and campaigns to bypass

Google's spam filters, and instead be delivered directly to their users' inboxes, allowing their

users to determine whether or not they consider the email to be spam.

Both as a long-time Google (Gmail) user as well as a voting citizen in this country, I plead

with you not to allow unsolicited political emails to be sent to Gmail users. I really don’t need

another way for politicians to fill in my mail box and inbox with spam. Politician's mail are

already so pervasive, I much rather they keep as is (since I can’t get rid of them) than allowing

them more freedom to inundate me with unsolicited correspondence.

I can’t see any benefit to the public, and specially Google users, to allow this to take place.

Instead, in my opinion, it poses security risks, it abuses the user’s privacy, and opens the door

for further foreign influence in our country's elections and more spam.

Please don’t let this happen,

Kindest regards,

Fernanda Morrison
From: Sally Vandershaf

To: AO

Subject: do NOT let political BS get around spam filters.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:46:27 PM

According to this, there is a plan to wreck my gmail by allowing political spam through.

Political spam is spam, completely the same as viagra ads. Don't let any of that crap through.

If I want it, I'll proactively subscribe. Otherwise, leave me ALONE!

Sally Vandershaf
From: John Angevine

To: AO

Subject: Google and Junk Email filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:06:13 PM

I believe that all email, and particularly those related to politics, should be eligible to be

considered as junk mail if an individual so desires.

John Angevine
From: Elaine Bayus

To: AO

Subject: Google and political spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:13:31 PM

Please don't grant Google's request to allow political emails not be subject to

spam filters. It's a big enough pain to delete all that trash from the

Promotions file, without having it clutter up the Primary inbox as well.

Please, please spare us. Thank you.
From: Andrea Frediani

To: AO

Subject: Google Political Email Spam Plan

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:07:18 PM

I respectfully request that the commission decline Google’s request to permit political email to

bypass spam filters.

1) This essentially forces users to endure and deal with messages they have already actively

expressed their opposition to seeing by setting filtering rules to begin with.

2) Many of these emails contain both inadvertent and intentionally inaccurate claims and

information. The effect of this information on society and the political arena has never been

more prevalent than they are now and the damage it is causing our country and communities is

immeasurable.

3) it is literally impossible that Google can thoroughly or accurately vet these various emails

to determine their origin or authenticity thus throwing the doors wide open to undue influence,

deception, foreign interference, special interest lobbying direct to voters, fraud, voter

intimidation, and many more undesirable impacts.

4) Access to voters is an invaluable tool for politicians and their supporters. Google providing

that access free of charge constitutes a contribution to the campaign, the politician, and any

essentially a bribe to their offices or committees once election is complete. Providing this

access for a fee belies any claims they might make of requesting the change in the “public

interest”.

5) Google’s email offerings provide the ability for the users to set rules to filter, sort, and

action emails I’m the way that most suits their needs. Google has provided settings that create

individual folders and prebuilt filters used to automatically review, sort, and store to store

emails coming in to the user mailbox. Creation of a “political” category to be utilized for this

same purpose should be a sufficient compromise between their desires and the users’ needs.

For these reasons and more I implore you to deny this request from Google and any similar

requests received by Google or other entities in the future.

Respectfully,

Andrea Frediani

Killeen, Texas
From: Bill Love

To: AO

Subject: Google Political Emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:04:03 PM

Do NOT allow Google direct access to my primary inbox with political emails. They make

enough money and I don't want the hassle.
From: Bill Love

To: AO

Subject: Google political filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:00:38 PM

Do NOT allow Google direct access to my primary inbox with political emails. They make

enough money and I don't want the hassle.
From: Leila Kipp

To: AO

Subject: Google proposal

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:00:16 PM

Please reject Google’s proposal to allow political emails to evade spam filters. The onslaught of political fundraising

emails demeans the entire process and preys on the elderly and unsophisticated. If one wants to contribute to a

campaign, it’s a single internet search to do so.

Thank you,

Leila Kipp
From: Monica Cavallaro

To: AO

Subject: Google request of FEC to allow political emails avoid spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:12:17 PM

Per a post in Numlock News (7-14-22) regarding Google’s request of the FEC:

Please reject Google’s request to inundate every primary email user with unwanted political emails!

We are already stuck with political texts constantly arriving and existing political emails that make it

through our filters. I must get 25 – 75 unwanted texts and emails daily which is a huge waste of time

on deleting and quite frustrating.

Regards,

Monica Cavallaro

Per Numlock News

Google sent a request to the FEC this month that asked for a green light on a program that

would essentially let it rip when it comes to political emails, which would no longer be

susceptible to spam filters following the proposed move and get a direct line to primary

inboxes. The commenting period on the proposal remains ongoing, and believe it or not

people sure seem to oppose the firehose of political spam: Of just 48 comments submitted,

only two support Google’s move. Per Insider*, the commenting period ends July 16, so if you

have any thoughts don’t hesitate to
From: Pamela Comeau

To: AO

Subject: Google’s Political Emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:19:54 PM

Please do not let this happen.

Absolutely NO! I do not want ONE email regarding politics. We have enough spam, ads, and stress in our everyday

lives.

Googles misrepresentation of other apps that tout “we take your privacy serious” is laughable. I do not need another

dishonest Google sham.

If politicians want to get the word out, they can set up Zoom, Teams, Town Hall, YouTube meetings, I do not want

them in my inbox.

I can’t imagine the ire I’d have if I saw one piece of political email, even if it was from my party.

Count me out.

Thanks,

Pam Comeau
From: Davidson Loehr

To: AO

Subject: Google’s spam filter removal

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:42:43 PM

No! Please stop the liberals’ ownership of Google from selling elections to the most unprincipled and desperate.

Keep the spam filters in place!

Davidson Loehr

Sent from my iPhone
From: Evelyn Hampton

To: AO

Subject: No to Google"s proposal

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:30:27 PM

I strongly oppose Google's request to allow political emails to go directly to inboxes. I get

enough spam and junk mail, phone calls, and emails and don't want more, particularly of a

political nature.

Thank you,

Evelyn Hampton
From: Dan Comden

To: AO

Subject: No unsolicited political email

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:28:03 PM

PLEASE do not allow political campaigns to bypass spam filters. All political email needs to

be opt-in.

It's already terrible that I cannot avoid spam phone calls from politicians.

This will encourage additional apathy, distrust, and disengagement from citizens. It's an

absolutely TERRIBLE idea.

I have elderly relatives that already get sensational and fear-mongering messages from

politicians. None of us need more of this spam in our lives.

Please do not allow this unhinged plan to move forward.

Sincerely,

Dan Comden
From: Benjamin Bullock

To: AO

Subject: No

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:58:53 PM

I say No to Google and political emails. Please. No.
From: Theresa Young

To: AO

Subject: Please do NOT allow Gmail political spam filter bypass

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:03:05 PM

Hello,

I just learned of the Google spam filter case. For the love of all things holy, please do not

allow it. We are involuntarily bombarded with political messages all day long. The last thing

we need is unwanted political messages in our email.

Thank you,

Theresa Young
From: Jay Barnes

To: AO

Subject: Polictal Ad Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:04:34 PM

A resounding vote to squash any attempt for political entities to side swipe span folders and making it legal to send

political fodder directly to our emails. No!
From: Ray Cantrell

To: AO

Subject: political email

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:37:26 PM

No more please. I get too much now.

Ray Cantrell
From: Deb G

To: AO

Subject: Political Emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:42:10 PM

No! I don't want political emails!

Deb Geelsdottir

From: Stephen Goulet

To: AO

Subject: Political spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:11:51 PM

DON'T DO IT! SPAM IS SPAM NO MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT. A TERRIBLE

IDEA!

Thanks

Stephen Goulet
From: Carl Dietz

To: AO

Subject: Regarding Google"s Proposal to Allow Political Emails through Spam Filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:31:33 PM

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing regarding Google's proposal to the FEC to allow political messages through spam

filters, directly to consumers. I emphatically oppose the proposal and strongly recommend that

the FEC reject it.

Should American voters want communication from candidates, they have a plethora of

opportunities to access them. Candidates can broadcast their messages through social media to

a nationwide audience effectively for free, and should voters want direct contact from a

candidate, party, or PAC, the voter can request it.

The real problem is that voters are awash in messaging from candidates, and it is virtually

impossible to avoid. Candidates and PACs spam voters incessantly, in a way that would be

completely illegal if they were for-profit corporations. This does not make their actions any

less self-interested. Instead of providing a route for candidates to harass voters even more, the

FEC should force campaigns to disclose when they are selling or buying voters' personal

information. If a voter does not want his or her information traded on, they should have a route

to prevent this, and the FEC should punish campaigns that don't respect these wishes.

The vast amount of political messaging in America does not engender political engagement; it

does quite the opposite. It instead engenders cynicism and disgust amongst the electorate,

making modern politics even more vicious and toxic every year. If the FEC won't fix this

problem, it should at least not contribute further to it.

Sincerely yours,

Carl F. Dietz
From: T. Allen

To: AO

Subject: Spam Filters and Social Media

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:25:04 PM

First Amendment concerns not withstanding, I believe recent history provides ample evidence

that Social Media is a threat to American democracy.

Until protections are inplace to insure American are not exposed to misinformation and

disinformation on Social Media platforms, no additional access should be allowed.

Thank you for your consideration.

Anthony Allen
From: Paul Coan

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:06:11 PM

I write today to speak AGAINST allowing Google to allow political emails to bypass the spam filters in Gmail. My

Gmail account is one of the few areas of my interactions on-line where political messages are rare. All other areas

on-line including browsing, social media, and even gaming have largely descended into a pit of tribalism.

Freedom of speech allows anyone to say almost anything, but it does NOT force anyone to listen. Allowing political

spam to pass the filters is a long ugly step towards making me listen to this speech.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Paul S Coan

Muncie, IN 47305
From: James Lee

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 10:37:55 AM

The idea of allowing politicians to bypass spam filters is horrifying. If you don't want to be in my spam folder, don't

spam me. It's really that simple.

It boggles the mind that anyone, including the folks at Google, thinks that this is a good idea.

It's a terrible idea. Please deny the request.

Regards,

James Lee
From: sk

To: AO

Subject: Ao 2022-14 | Fec

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 8:37:40 PM

In 76 years I have never responded to any proposed .gov change before.

Today I must recommend NO to Ao2022-14. 

Allowing political email to bypass spam filters deserves unparalleled rebuke.

S. Kimberling
From: John Biasatti

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 google lax

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:47:35 PM

Good God, no! Aren’t we already taxed enough on our time and attention without having to fend off shill requests

from useless politicians? If this is allowed, I will go to the immense trouble of switching emails. It will be worth it

just to send the middle finger to Google for doing this.
From: Gmail

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 GOOGLE LLC

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:17:11 AM

I implore the commission to reject the request. We citizens are already assailed with traditional mail and advertising

relating to political campaigns. Significant time is wasted daily dealing with unwanted email and phone calls.

Requiring us to wade through unfiltered additional email encroaches on the 8th amendment “nor cruel and unusual

punishments inflicted”
From: Dennis Leonard

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:29:18 AM

I request that you deny Google's request to allow campaign ads to go through to my inbox. I already get this random

crap from people who are not even in my state nor anyone I followed in the past, but at least it's under the sub tab of

promotion sometimes or outright blocked in my spam which is even better.

I want the spam blocker to keep doing it's job which is: Did I specifically sign up for this stuff? NO! Then move to >

BLOCKED

- Dennis Leonard
F om Kev n M lle

To AO

Subject Comment on Google"s Request fo Opin on on ilot og am

Date Thu sday July 14 2022 11 51 31 AM

Dear FEC

Google has asked for he FEC's op n on on whether it can mplement a pilot prog am that allows the ema l sent from pol tical candidates and campa gns to bypass spam filters. These emails would nstead be deli ered d rectly to the r user's nboxes.

I am writ ng as a former Google Apps administ a or for a large uni ersity who dealt with a lot of issues around spam and filtering. Oftentimes senders wi hin our organization would be thwarted by spam fil ers when trying to not fy students or staff about impor ant nformation. In all cases when I had in est gated why hese emails were f ltered there was a technical or content-based remedy that helped get the right

messages o he ight people.

There are existing best pract ces for send ng unsol c ted email some of wh ch are echn cal wh le others are editorial. Elect on campaigns sending millions of ema ls could choose to follow hese best prac ices but they are unwill ng because it would materially change the tone and tenor of the messag ng.

When perusing my own selection of political spam there are many parallels between he campa gns and rue spam. One was sent by a company named c-blas ma l.com <https / gcc02.safelinks.pro ect on.ou look.com ?url=h tp%3A%2F%2Fcblastmail com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7Cff375219060 5e8d3c 08da65b0b3b2%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 1069057327 0%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Z8eChmMZTD6GYt7OOB9zlcGrKZoKEGxaZzgMFjUq gM%3D&reser ed=0>

 which routed ema l through a separate SMTP relay but the eply-to email address ended wi h the domain cbfs-net.com <https / gcc02.safel nks.pro ect on.outlook.com ?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcbfsnet.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7Cff375219060 5e8d3c 08da65b0b3b2%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 1069057327 0%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDAiLCJQI oiV2luMzI LCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sda a=HmRXMaxVbVnqjjhHc3VV3zcEG2ynxd 7AltwqM5Rq7I%3D&reser ed=0> . This

setup wi hout the approp iate changes o domains and ema l headers would make t imposs ble to determine whether the sender is legit ma e. There are ery spec fic steps that the sender could ha e made to remedy his situation but they apparently dec ded not to.

The means to a oid the SPAM folder a e we l-documented. Campaigns ust need to do their due dil gence when sending email. Thank you for your t me

Ke in Miller
From: Bobby Mueller

To: AO

Subject: Comment on political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 1:58:57 PM

To Whom it May Concern,

Please DO NOT allow political committees to bypass spam filters. They should not get special treatment. I don’t

want their emails in my primary inbox. It would make Gmail worse.

Thank you,

Robert Mueller
From: Tranbonium

To: AO

Subject: Do not allow email providers to force political emails to get through spam filtering

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:45:17 PM

Do not allow email providers to force political emails to get through spam filtering.

Thanks.
From: Alex Rossbach

To: AO

Subject: Do not allow political emails to bypass Gmail spam filters

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 9:35:48 PM

Please do not allow political campaign emails to bypass Gmail spam filters. That opens the door for any sort of

tangentially related "political" campaign email to bypass spam and inundate users. I can't stress how badly I don't

want random political emails to be in my email inbox.

--

-Alex Rossbach
From: Eric Muller

To: AO

Subject: Don"t allow google to bypass spam filters for politicians

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:49:01 PM

This is a terrible idea, it will result in a flood of unwanted email to me and others. Please don't allow Google to do

this.

~EJM
From: Pat Blackard

To: AO

Subject: Don"t allow Google to exempt politicians from spam suppression

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:09:32 AM

Please do not allow Google to make emails from authorized candidate committees, political party committees and

leadership political action committees registered with the FEC exempt from spam detection.

Patrick Blackard

round Rock, Texas
From: Noel Gorelick

To: AO

Subject: Don"t allow political email to bypass spam filtering

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:45:34 AM

I am writing to strongly object to the plan to allow political emails should to bypass spam filtering. I think this is a

very bad idea. Many political emails are already full of gross misstatements, exaggerations and lies. I'm very happy

that my email provider is able to filter these for me.
From: Mark McHugh

To: AO

Subject: Don"t allow political emails to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:05:22 PM

Dear FEC,

 I am writing in response to the commenting period about allowing political emails to bypass spam filters.

Please do not allow Google or others to let political emails bypass spam filters. I receive some political emails but I

subscribe to them and I also often get many, many unwanted political emails. If the FEC allows Google to send

political emails without spam filtering my email in-box will be inundated with tons of garbage emails. Please protect

my privacy and do not give Google this privilege of sending political emails that bypass spam filters.

 Thank you for your service.

With Regards,
F om ete Ha son

To AO

Subject Gmail ha d pass fo pol t cal emails - a bad dea

Date Thu day July 14 2022 9 29 18 AM

I get a lot of emails urgently ask ng for money for poli ical candidates and campa gns. I would classify 99% of hese as spam.

These emails are a nuisance and a secur ty risk.

Please do not allow Google to bypass spam fil e s for such emails.

Backg ound

Ea lier his month Google sent a request to the Federal Elect on Commission <ht ps /gcc02.safelinks protection.ou look.com ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fec.go %2Ff les%2Flegal%2Faos%2F2022-

1 %2F20221 R_1.pdf&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7C96ec628792ec fa795fe08da659cceae%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 02157 999706%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBT I6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Q1qs8A1LkqwVw8rPzNbV9qtCgWaFa xkWOCY9 q%2BBuQ%3D&reser ed=0>

seeking an ad sory opin on on the po ential launch of a pilot program that would a low pol tical committees o bypass spam filters and ins ead deli er political emails to the primary inboxes of Gmail users.

Peter B Ha rison MD
From: Sean McCullough

To: AO

Subject: Gmail Politics

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:22:00 AM

We get enough political bullshit through social media, unsolicited phone calls, and our televisions. Please let us keep

one place a little clean from the waves of lies that everyone is spouting. Don’t let Google turn the firehose on our

inboxes. --

Sean McCullough
From: Roger Holt

To: AO

Subject: google and bypass for political spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:16:30 PM

Do not allow politicians a free pass to my email inbox.

They are white supremacists, QAon followers, insurrectionists, and MAGA faithful.

They are Republicans.

It's already a tragedy that they're allowed to bypass the government "Do not call list" and invade my privacy via my

phone.
From: Bill

To: AO

Subject: Google and Political Emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:03:22 PM

Do NOT allow Google direct access to my primary inbox with political emails. They make enough money and I

don't want the hassle.
F om CHAR ES ROCCO

To AO

Subject Google ttempt to bypass spam filte s

Date Thu sday July 14 2022 1 07 36 M

S s

I m t ed of decept ve ema s and ght w ng d s nfo mat on and use spam f e s The Goog e p oposa o be ab e to bypass these p otect ons makes my b ood bo Deny the equest f peop e want to v ew es that s he bus ness but I p efe t u h to es no ma te how those t u hs may be n conf ct w th what I be eve Denyb he equest

Chuck occo

S m a Ca f 93065

Sent f om the a new AOL app o And o d <h tps gcc02 sa e nks p otect on out ook com ?

u =https%3A%2F%2Fp ay goog e com%2Fsto e%2Fapps%2Fde a s%3F d%3Dcom ao mob e ao app&data=05%7C01%7Cao%40fec gov%7C6ea73e97924a45840a6608da65bb5842%7Cee91fa706c9d45e0bb084a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C637934152563415781%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjo MC4wLjAwMDA LCJQ jo V2 uMzI LCJBT I6Ik1haWw LC XVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sda a=vpDwZWJZnF4d tjORpT%2BFwuzU ZMh nXIhbsWp 3hZ4%3D& ese ved=0>
From: Imai Aiu

To: AO

Subject: Google filter on political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:12:17 PM

Please don't let the google filter on political emails for gmail be removed. There's enough spam.

--

- Imai
F om Bi l Jo th

To AO

Subject Google ol t cal Email og am

Date Thu sday uly 14 2022 10 27 08 AM

Please reject h s egregious spam project.

Thank you.

<https /gcc02 safelinks protect on.outlook.com/?url=ht ps%3A%2F%2Fh hello me%2Fp%2F68b360a6-e9 1- f9 -9 21-

d0 83d79bfb5%3Ff%3D cf&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7C93607b198e 3 6c9bc308da65a ed1e%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 056279818302%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDA LCJQI oiV2luMzIiLCJBTi 6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kfnEz %2FnZ6SWhn73 rY kMTG8TKms027UWQZV1BaCHg%3D&reser ed=0>
From: John Drummond

To: AO

Subject: Google Political E-mailProposal

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 8:58:24 AM

Please go no approve Google’s proposal to allow political spam e-mail to go to everyone’s mailboxes. Spam is

overwhelming now. I am sick of political propaganda and do not wish to be even more overwhelmed by political

ads.

Sent from my iPhone
From: Michael McDermot

To: AO

Subject: Google political filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:10:49 PM

As a long time Google ecosystem user I ask you to NOT allow Google to relax political ad filtering. If anything it

should be an Opt-In choice if you would like to receive unsolicited political advertising.

Mike McDermot
From: Fredy Gerber

To: AO

Subject: Google request for political emails

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:46:45 AM

Hello,

I strongly oppose google’s request and urge you to deny it.

No unsolicited emails in my inbox!

Thank you

--

Regards, Fred Sent from my mobile
From: Steve Fleury

To: AO

Subject: Google spam filter

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:43:30 PM

Please do not allow Google to remove spam filters on political ads. I already get multiple texts a day, calls and

seemingly upended ads on apps and TV

Thanks
From: Huck Kennedy

To: AO

Subject: Google spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:53:31 PM

Please do not allow Google to exempt political ads from spam filters, thank you!

Huck Kennedy

Orange, CA
From: Betty Hale

To: AO

Subject: Google spam filters

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 6:26:01 PM

Please do not allow Google to allow political committees to bypass spam filters in gmail. If I want to know about a

politician I will do an online search. I don't want their propaganda shoved down my throat in an email.

Thank you.
From: Jordan Rich

To: AO

Subject: Google"s proposed pilot program

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:52:23 AM

Hello,

I am completely against the idea of unsolicited political emails being exempt from the spam filters. It is the

definition of spam and I don't want it regardless of the party, candidate, and whatever their views and policies are.

Jordan Rich
From: Matthew Schallan

To: AO

Subject: I oppose Google"s request to allow political spam to bypass Gmail"s filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:33:08 PM

I will stop using their service entirely if they ram this through!
From: James Perryman

To: AO

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:20:27 PM

Please stop all unsolicited political emails. All they do is fuel my hate for the Republican party.
From: Ashlei Watson

To: AO

Subject: No Political Emails!

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:02:45 AM

Please do not remove the spam locker on these emails. I can't stand all the calls, mail, signage, etc. I am inundated

with each election cycle.

Thank you.
From: fruck wheeled

To: AO

Subject: NO political spam filter bypass

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:41:18 PM

This is to register my complete and unequivocal condemnation of any exemption to or weakening of spam filters in

any way whatsoever for political messages and recommendation to refuse to take any action weakening any spam

filters in any way whatsoever of any company or other entity whatsoever regarding political messages from any

source whatsoever.

Seriously, that political spam filter bypass is a completely stupid and corrupt bunch of shit that would only serve to

make the United States of America weaker and less livable, don't do it, kill it in the cradle.

Thank you

Sincerely

Curtis F. Smith
From: Gigi D

To: AO

Subject: No to gmail spam mail change

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:12:30 PM

No, I do not want gmail to allow political emails. We don't need anymore crap emails, we have enough to deal with

without cramming politics down our throats via email.

No!

No!

No!

No!

No!

Thanks,

Chris
From: davewithabeard

To: AO

Subject: No, just no

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:54:30 AM

No to political emails going to primary folders. The spam calls are enough. Straight away to the spam folders with

these ads...

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
From: Jonathan Dubman

To: AO

Subject: Opposing Google"s request to the FEC

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022 10:52:35 PM

RE: Advisory Opinion Request (Google LLC), pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30108 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

of 1971

I oppose Google's request to exempt certain political emails from normal spam filtering. The set of political

candidates and campaigns who would be eligible for this program in the US in this era (2022) includes a large

number of individuals already known to be untrustworthy, and groups thereof, from whom I would consider any

online communication whatsoever to be dangerous and potentially traumatizing. If I see political emails from these

people or groups slipping through the filters, I will avoid Gmail, even at my own personal inconvenience.

Jonathan Dubman

Seattle, WA
From: David Swanson

To: AO

Subject: pilot program that would allow political committees to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:41:09 PM

I am very much opposed to Google's planed pilot to have political email bypass spam filters. Political email

shouldn't get a free pass. If it's unsolicited it's spam no matter the origin.

D Swanson
From: Ben Kolstad

To: AO

Subject: Please DO NOT allow emails from political committees to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:46:00 AM

Google’s proposal is horrible. Please do not exempt emails from political committees from spam filters.I get enough

such junk that makes it past the spam filters. It’s horrible, and it wastes precious time.

Thank you.

Ben Kolstad

Boca Raton, FL
F om John Ca te

To AO

Subject lease eject Google"s equest that ema l f om pol tical commit ees and candidates" email be a lowed to bypass spam f l e s

Date Thu sday July 14 2022 9 36 39 AM

FEC members

I understand hat you recently recei ed a request from Google to allow email from political commit ees and/or candidates to bypass spam filters (https / www.fec.go /f les/legal/aos 2022-1 /20221 R 1 pdf <https / gcc02.safel nks.protection outlook com/?url=h tps%3A%2F%2Fwww.fec.go %2Ff les%2Flegal%2Faos%2F2022-

1 %2F20221 R_1.pdf&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7Ca905aa 6e5a c839 8008da659ddebc%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C63793 025993216 61%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjo MC wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBT I6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sda a=dPXWHwsN2GVt9OXw hgBmEF CsmNJOJ%2Fq6B7VwsE1ks%3D&reser ed=0>

). I am wri ing on my pe sonal behalf to strenuously request that you reject th s request (or put another way ssue an ad sory opin on disallow ng the proposed pract ce). Political actors already tend to send out far too much spam email (low qual ty misleading in asi e etc.) and one of he few ways for us c tizens to a oid h s flood of unwan ed email is ia spam filters. Poli ical actors should ha e o fo low the same

practices as any o her sender of unsolici ed email to a oid being ma ked as spam.

Thank you

John
From: L. Schallan

To: AO

Subject: Political Email Messages and Spam Filtering

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:32:10 PM

Hello, I would like to add my comments to those you have been receiving regarding Google's request to remove

spam filters from political email messages. I strongly oppose this! Political spam is still spam and is unwanted by

the receiver. There is no reason to give it a fast track to my already clogged email account.

If I am interested in receiving messages from a political candidate, campaign, or party, I will sign up for mailings.

This issue boils down to free choice vs. harassment.

I appreciate the opportunity to register my opinion on this matter.

Linda Schallan
From: Nova Doc

To: AO

Subject: Political Emails from Google

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:06:23 PM

Do NOT allow Google direct access to my primary inbox with political emails. I don't have Facebook because i dont

want to read bullshit forced infront of me. They make enough money.
From: Luanna Grow

To: AO

Subject: Political emails ruling

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 8:54:43 AM

Please do not approve Google’s request to allow political emails to avoid being stopped by spam filters. It should be

my choice

Luanna Grow

portland, or
From: Todd Zimmerman

To: AO

Subject: political messaging

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 2:11:19 PM

The day Gmail allows unsolicited political messages to bypass my SPAM filter is the day I stop using Gmail and

switch to a competitor.

I can't believe this is even under consideration.
From: Dave Miller

To: AO

Subject: Political Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 5:29:16 PM

As a consumer I should have the right to decide what email I receive in my inbox and what I send to my spam

folder. Since the 2016 election season I have filled the allowed number of emails per filter four times and that does

not include the number of emails that I have just marked as spam and hope they don't come in again. Even marking

emails as spam is not completely successful since now many of the emails I have reported as spam now come into

my forums box. Having said that, by allowing Google to allow all political emails to come into my inbox I run the

possibility that I will miss an email that I actually need to see. It is bad enough that I get 10-20 texts a day from both

political parties seeking money. I don't need to get 10-20 emails each day (and that number will go up considerably

as it gets closer to November). Political emails are spam unless I specifically sign up for an email.

David Miller
From: Donna Brown

To: AO

Subject: Politican access to Google gmail without spam detection

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 4:51:19 PM

Dear FCC,

Under no circumstance should Google be allowed to let candidate committees, political party committees, and

leadership political action committees avoid spam detection that I have implemented to avoid such unsolicited spam

to my inbox. Such committees are not authorized by me to send any solicitations to me and therefore are spam

whether they are affiliated with a candidate I support or not. No such spam should be allowed to avoid the spam

filters I want Google to have in place on my behalf or those I have implemented myself.

Thank you for the opportunity to make you aware of my feelings on this matter. We have become a nation that no

longer answers our door bells, reads our emails or answers our phones because we are constantly inundated with an

avalanche of unwanted solicitation. Enough is enough. I don't want more!!!!!

Sincerely,

Donna Brown

DeKalb, IL
F om Robby Z nchak

To AO

Subject ublic comment ega ding gma l spam exemption fo pol tical campaigns

Date Wednesday July 13 2022 7 05 45 M

Hello

I am writing in with regards to a comment regarding pol tical campaigns getting special exemptions for the gmail spam filter wi h a somewhat ra e perspecti e -- I myself run a med um-sized e-mail newslet er (50k users). My newsletter s opt-in by the recei er erified addresses wh ch I pr marily use to no ify people when I' e released a new ideo game. It is perhaps one of the best examples of a legitimate email list. . and yet it has been awful trying o get my mail deli ered o Google addresses.

Google s terrible at spam handl ng and yet they are a near monopoly w th about 60% of my list contac s. There are actually a number of dark patterns that google uses -- for instance a user marking a message as spam or not spam doesn't ac ually remember that. It's used to train heir AI at large scale but th s but on should absolutely remember the sender for the lifetime of the inbox. Instead the process to add

a 'safe sender' is also needlessly con oluted a pattern they' e set up that ensures rtua ly no one w ll correc ly add safe senders (link with ideo on the s eps needed h tps //robbyz nchak.com how-to-pre ent-our-newsletter-from-going-to-spam/ <ht ps /gcc02.safelinks protection outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Frobbyz nchak.com%2Fhow- o-pre ent-our-newsletter-from-going-tospam%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cao% 0fec.go %7C7e7cbda08a12 c e2a908da652 3 f1%7Cee91fa706c9d 5e0bb08 a355de91010%7C0%7C1%7C637933503 5573566%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWw LCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cTe TbYYGNohuYsK%2BLWihRS0lpJub N3oczaIX XioQ%3D&reser ed=0>

).

As someone who runs a ma l ser er I actua ly get constant spam from google ser ers. They don't ha e a standardized abuse address to report spamme s on gma l to and in fact e en official mail from youtube has not compl ed wi h their own sending guidelines. As always with google one rule for us one rule for e eryone else. And trying to contact Google to sort out erro s with their spam system as either a

sender or recei er is an effort in futili y.

Let me be clear I am a fan of some of the policies google requires namely opt-in direct subs from users (no list purchasing) and easy unsubscr be. After all I only want to send messages to people who want them. But what Google does in practice is disad antage legit mate newsletters in he inbox. I am absolutely con nced they do th s to nerf the effecti eness of e-mail and raise the cost of e-mail beyond

he cost of the fo ms of ad er ising hey sell -- thus ncen i z ng their own ad e tising solutions. It is disgus ing it s an antitrust issue and no one talks about it.

Now should campaign ma ls get an exception? Absolutely not. Because

1) Political campaigns are w dely considered o ha e some of the worst sending policies in the mail ndust y. Pol tical mail should ha e to follow he same proper sending rules e eryone else does (proper opt-in & easy opt-out. NO list buy ng.)

2) Google s only offering his since they know poli icians ha e power. If you're frustrated with the status quo of e-ma l... GOOD. Legislate it. But fix it for e eryone e en the lit le guys like us who ha e no pol tical power.

Basically f a user has consented o recei e e-mail from a sender it should in-fact be easy & straightforward for them to recei e it. Google nstead has what seems to be a defec i e-by-design spam handling solution that disad antages legi ima e senders.

Thanks for reading and if here is e er a congress onal an itrust hear ng regarding the shenanigans that Google pulls I would be HAPPY to testify. This s a p oblem that needs to be fixed.

Best regards

Robby Z nchak

CEO Archi e Entertainment LLC
From: Andrew Miller

To: AO

Subject: RE: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:51:25 AM

Email is for personal use and I personally do not sign up for email

blasts from political parties to inundate me with politically

motivated messages.

The only reason this is coming up as an issue is because it costs next

to nothing to send an email whereas to actually mail me via USPS, it

entails costs for printing, mailing, bulk sender status and address

lists.

Do not, I repeat, do NOT try to force my email provider (Google,

Microsoft, Apple, et al) to disable the protections on my inbox to

force me to see the sender and subject line of an email I'm going to

delete anyway.

If I want an email of a political nature, I know how to make it so I

receive such communications and I don't need the FEC trying to make

that decision for me.

Regards,

Andrew Miller
From: Matthew Briggs

To: AO

Subject: Reject Google"s political emails request

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 8:56:20 AM

To whom it may concern,

Please deny the request from Google and Gmail and make it more difficult to filter out political ads from my inbox.

These campaigns are impossible to get away from. When I unsubscribe from one candidate's spam, they sell my

information to two others. I've lived in central Texas for 12 years, but I somehow get requests for donations from

congressional races in Ohio, state senate races in Florida, and from a district attorney candidate in Oregon.

After donating to one family friend's campaign close to 6 years ago, I've entered a spiraling vortex of folks trying to

piss me off and take my money every single day. I have to have options to protect myself from this onslaught.

Please do not make it more difficult to do so.

Matthew Briggs
From: Tom Jackson

To: AO

Subject: Spam filtering Gmail political messaging

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 12:52:37 PM

NO - there is not a substantive good reason to except political messaging.

This would be just as wrong as it was for politicians to except themselves from spam phone calling.
From: Michele Morgan

To: AO

Subject: Spam fllters.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:52:25 PM

Please do not remove spam filters on political camoaign material. We need less disinformation and toxic rhetoric in

political messages.
From: Mark Fickett

To: AO

Subject: Allowing Google to exempt political emails from spam filtering would be a huge favor to politicians, disservice to

consumers

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 10:24:56 PM

To Whom it May Concern:

I urge you not to allow Google to make exceptions in spam filtering for political groups.

I believe one major issue is whether this would constitute Google giving something of value to

political entities. It definitely would. Companies spend huge budgets on marketing, and a

major avenue is direct email campaigns. If PACs (for example) could get Google to ensure

their messages would end up in people's inboxes, that would obviously be very valuable to

them.

And as a consumer, I am bombarded by many political emails. Some from groups I have once

donated to, some I've never contacted, some I've attempted to unsubscribe from or never

signed up for emails from. The bulk of this is spam, taking up my time and attention. So

giving some groups the ability to bypass spam filters is something I vehemently do not want.

(To Google's detriment, it might be enough of a problem for me to look for another service.)

Thanks for your consideration,

Mark F
From: Kevin Carlyle

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC) comment

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 10:59:54 PM

I am a paid customer of Google’s premium workspace service. I will change email services if this change is allowed

to go into place and Google implements what they propose.

That’s how much I hate the idea of anyone allowing unsolicited political spam through.

Unsolicited texting from politicians and political groups is bad enough, it should be banned too. Absolutely nothing

unsolicited should be allowed as a matter of course.

Politicians should be required to gain new authorization to email after a campaign is over at that. Email lists

shouldn’t be perpetual and should be opt in only for the duration of the campaign and then purged.
From: William Cohen

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 7:48:42 AM

Dear FEC,

Allowing any messaging carte blanche passes through spam filters will do to email what the

rise of robo-calling has done to phones and voicemail. Currently, political groups must use

caution when sending email messages: if enough users receive a message they do not want and

mark it as spam, all spam filters will start automatically flagging emails from that sender as

spam. This forces senders to be circumspect with who they send messages to, providing some

semblance of accuracy in their messaging. Allowing any category to bypass spam filters will

remove any checks on their mailing lists. This will open the flood gates for unmitigated

spamming, flooding users' email addresses with unwanted emails. Aside from the sheer

inconvenience, now is not the time to turn Americans away from political involvement and

engagement, which a fire hose of untargeted, irrelevant communication would certainly do.

You must say no to this. You have a duty to say no to this.

Thank you for your circumspection,

Will Cohen
From: John Lianoglou

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14 feedback

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:12:06 PM

Simply wishing to express that I do NOT want to see ANY special SPAM filter pass-throughs

awarded to any political email outlets of any party.

If anything, too many of these bloody things are making it through as it is.

jL
From: Damien Weiss

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 8:32:03 AM

Good. Lord. How is this even a question or debate? 99.99% of all political messages qualify as spam:

 * They’re unsolicited

 * They’re for products that I want nothing to do with

 * I delete them as quickly as I can if they escape the spam filters

If politicians and wanna-be politicians don’t like their emails getting nailed by my spam filter, then may I kindly

suggest that stop writing emails that LOOK EXACTLY LIKE SPAM.

Politicians have the right to be heard, and I support that. However, I have the right to NOT LISTEN TO THEIR

CRAP. And I support that right just a little bit more.

Thank you,

Damien Weiss

7th CD, Virginia
From:

To: AO

Subject: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 9:37:44 PM

To whom it may concern,

I am strongly opposed to Google Inc’s proposal AO 2022-14, to allow a special category for

political mail to bypass spam filters. I receive political mail from a variety of candidates across

the political spectrum. Nearly all of them — regardless of partisan affiliation — carry many of

the hallmarks of spam email. Namely they contain:

Deceptive from addresses and sender information, to make the emails appear as if they

are from an individual rather than an organization

Subject lines that do not pertain to the content of the message, but appear as if they were

typed by a close friend — attempting to induce a click

Content that creates an action imperative, a dark pattern to ensure the reader of an email

will act quickly and without critical thought

Mass volume, attempting to induce success through overwhelming might

Constant re-engagement or re-selling of contact lists despite multiple attempts to

unsubscribe

These tactics make it nearly impossible to maintain a well-ordered inbox during election

season, which now seems to be constant. This email is spam and rightly gets filtered by

common-sense spam filters designed to protect my time.

Politicians do not deserve special treatment in my inbox. They have not shown that they will

use that privilege wisely.

Sincerely,

Samuel Gross
From: Garry Jaffe

To: AO

Subject: Campaign emails to bypass spam filters

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 8:56:55 PM

NO, No, No!

I never want to see one goddam campaign email from anyone.

It's bad enough they bypass the Do Not Call list & come with some of the

weirdest Caller ID signatures ever seen.
From: Michael Deakin

To: AO

Subject: Comment on AO 2022-14 (Google LLC)

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:45:17 PM

To whom it may concern,

I am staunchly opposed to the proposal that political emails should be exempt from spam

filters. This is demonstrably exploitable (see the many campaigns requesting donations in

recent years without even any methodology to attempt to follow through) and deeply

problematic given the proliferation of politically charged misinformation.

There are two primary arguments I've seen for this kind of exemption:

1. Violations of people's Freedom of Speech

2. Unwarranted biases in the algorithms used

Claims that it violates people's Freedom of Speech are a conflation with the related but not

guaranteed ability to reach other people. Platforms with which to reach people have always

been and should remain a privilege that come with responsibility. People who use a platform

for political speech have the responsibility to be accurate and not misleading; two qualities

which lead to emails being marked as span. That people and political parties often fail to live

up to these responsibilities does not abdicate them; spam filters are one way we hold them to

these responsibilities.

Claims of political bias are frankly uninformed about how these filters work, and if they are

correct about this bias, they are largely a result of certain groups being less likely to live up to

the above responsibilities.

Michael Deakin

From:

To: AO

Subject: Don"t exempt politics from spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:25:00 PM

I already have to put up with my cell phone getting blasted with text messages for months around campaign season.

I get loads of solicitations any time I donate to what I consider a worthy candidate. At least let us continue to exert

some amount of control over our inboxes. Whitelisting all political emails is a terrible idea. That'd be like letting

children into a candy store and telling parents they're not allowed to say "no" to them.

Thank you.

Dan Young
From: FEC Public Records

To: AO

Subject: FW: No relaxing of spam filters for politics

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 9:36:54 AM

-----Original Message-----

From: Lisa Imerman < >

Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:25 PM

To: FEC Public Records <pubrec@fec.gov>

Subject: No relaxing of spam filters for politics

The FEc should not allow google to bypass spam filters for political purposes.

The American people get plenty of political mail, calls, emails, texts and ads. We don’t need massive amounts of

spam emails too.

Lisa Imerman

Waterford, MI

Sent from my iPhone
From: Robin Lloyd

To: AO

Subject: Google & politics

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 3:52:34 AM

Clearly Google being allowed to influence our elections will go as well as Facebook’s interference in 2016 & 2020.

Please 0don’t continue to allow diversion & subversion of our political system. There are simply too many highly

gullible influenceable people that don’t delve deeply enough into situations to make well informed choices from

highly biased political influential ads.

Robin Lloyd

Sent from my iPad
From: Gregg or Joan Havens

To: AO

Subject: Google and political ads/email

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 9:09:03 AM

I don't want any political emails in my inbox!! This is an invasion of privacy and an unwanted

item in my email. let them send junk mail so it costs the idiots something to contact me.

No to Google's proposal.

Gregg Havens, Mississippi
From: John Lockhart

To: AO

Subject: Google letting political email circumvent spam filters.

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 10:50:40 PM

Simply said, why should political email get special treatment with regard to spam filters??

Consumers should be in charge of what they want filtered out of their inbox. Furthermore,

How will you regulate who google picks for this special service? What are the standards? And

given that there will be selection/discrimination of "legitimate political committees" how is

that not in-kind value donated to that committee? This issue seems fraught, not in the

consumer's interest, and I hope you decline their request.

John Lockhart
From: lisa d. witte

To: AO

Subject: Google needs to keep political spam to itself!

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 9:29:28 PM

Good evening,

I am completely OPPOSED to Google's request to be allowed to inundate Gmail

users with political spam. Even with the restrictions that are currently in place, I

see way more political emails than all other kinds combined.

Please please please do not give Google permission recreate the courtroom scene

from Miracle On 34th Street in our inboxes every day. (In case you haven't seen it,

they bring in giant sacks of mail and dump one on the bench. LINK:

https://youtu.be/jagJeaLXRRQ)

Thank you,

Lisa D. Witte

aka "that weird girl"

From: ERIC HUNTER

To: AO

Subject: Google’s advisory opinion request 2022-14 to sidestep spam filters for political ads.

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 3:08:30 AM

Dear FEC:

I oppose the basis for this request. It will waste huge number of hours per year simply deleting them. Moreover,

there are plenty of ways for candidates to reach out to us without forcing emails into our inbox.

Please advise against this.

Sincerely,

Eric Hunter

--

Eric Hunter

Sent from my iPhone
From: Jon Freeland

To: AO

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:19:20 PM

Please don't let Google send me political emails without the spam filter catching them. Is

there no place that is sacred anymore?!?!?

From: Carrie Quast

To: AO

Subject: No to AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:22:06 PM

Do not let googling, or any email provider allow political emails through Spam filters.

Unsolicited email is not okay, and I’d like you to go a step further and not allow candidates to

share email lists to other entities, unless it is explicitly stated. Thank you, Carrie Quast
From: Denise Chenel Daughtry

To: AO

Subject: Please, no political ads!

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 9:30:22 PM

I have filters, and software to block unwanted calls and texts for my office phone and cell

phone. As it is the Google spam filter for email doesn't get all of them. Got one today from

Publisher's Clearing House promising to send me 2.5 million dollars. All I had to do was send

my checking account information. My mailbox is full of expensive ads on glossy paper from

all sorts of political adventurers for local elections. It's depressing to imagine that we would be

subjected to more spam, done cheaply.

Google has great services and I enjoy using many of them. Why this horrible idea? Must be

money-based political ads. Can't we have a break from more tedious and unwanted emals?

Please save us.

Thank you.

Denise Chenel Daughtry
From: Sarah

To: AO

Subject: political ads are spam

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 2:38:57 AM

Hello,

Unsolicited emails are spam. We should have more power over what goes directly into our inbox. Please

keep them out.

Thank you.

Sarah Reed
From: Mark Janett

To: AO

Subject: Political email spam filter

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 6:53:57 AM

Hello,

I'm writing to state my opinion that political emails should NOT be given the ability to bypass

spam filters. In my opinion, they are in the same category as any other type of promotional

email and do not provide vital information, such as government emails.

Thanks,

Mark
From:

To: AO

Subject: Political Spam

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 8:23:10 PM

I get spammed way too much now. The current filters are dubious already. KEEP FILTERS UP AND

INCERASE THEM

I have chosen plenty of folks to receive from. Others should back of or be backed off.
From: Bernadette Armstrong

To: AO

Subject: Political spamming via Google gmail

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:50:47 PM

I just read this:

"Google sent a request to the FEC this month that asked for a green light on a program that

would essentially let it rip when it comes to political emails, which would no longer be

susceptible to spam filters following the proposed move and get a direct line to primary

inboxes"

It hurts to learn that Google hates me this much. Please don't let them do this to me.

Thank you,

An innocent bystander

Bernadette Armstrong
From: Barts

To: AO

Subject: poolitical email

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 1:33:57 AM

"Both as a long-time Google (Gmail) user as well as a voting citizen in this

country, I plead with you not to allow unsolicited political emails to be sent to

Gmail users," one commenter wrote on July 12. "There is no conceivable benefit

for the user and, instead, poses security risks, abuses to their privacy, and

opens the door for further foreign influence in our country's elections."

Vaughn Bishop

Virus-free. www.avg.com
From: Kimbo Mundy

To: AO

Subject: Re: AO 2022-14

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 10:47:29 PM

Please deny Advisory Opinion Request 2022‐14 by Google to permit spam on its platform by federally registered

political committees.

I don’t want anyone bypassing spam filtering, especially politicians. If their emails are so spammy that they set off

the filters, then shame on them.

Sincerely,

Kimbo Mundy

87122
From: Skylar Chan

To: AO

Subject: Reject Google"s demand to allow political spam in Gmail inboxes

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2022 11:16:53 PM

Dear FEC,

I am a student at the University of Maryland.

Some of the other public responses have noted that spam emails of any

kind will increase the user's risk of running malware or falling for a

phishing attack. I agree with this. Allowing political spam emails

will decrease email security. This is unwise, especially when there

have been several large-scale and high-profile leaks resulting from

phishing.

The introduction of political spam emails in Gmail will also be

difficult to avoid:

1. You could chose not to read any of the emails, but then they will

waste space in the inbox. In addition, since many email ads contain

tracking pixels it is likely that political spam will too, so any

organization that sends you political spam will know whether or not you

chose to read an email and start building a data profile on you.

2. You could go through and manually delete all the political spam

emails, but that will be tedious.

3. You could create a spam filter to delete them automatically, but you

risk deleting an actually important email, as with any spam filter.

4. Some commenters have suggested that they will move to another

email service. But I believe that it will simply open the door for

other providers such as Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo to ask for

permission to allow political spam emails to enter their inboxes, so

the problem will spread. Furthermore, changing emails can be a

difficult process, and there will be users who cannot afford to make

that switch.

5. You could self-host your own private email server instead of using

Gmail, but it's a difficult and risky investment since the user must

now be responsible for their email security.

Even if this was opt-in and disabled by default, Google and Gmail do

not need to help the user discover more political organizations. It is

easy to find political organizations and news online on social media or

internet search. You can open your web browser and there might be

political news on the default home page. Even the start menu on Windows

computers will show political news if you don't turn it off!

There is no good reason for Google to put political spam emails in the

inbox, and no good reason for FEC to allow Google to do so. I hope that

the FEC will reject Google's demands.

Sincerely,

Spencer
From: Steve Yakes

To: AO

Subject: Spam filters for political email

Date: Friday, July 15, 2022 12:50:24 AM

FEC members,

I, for one, would very much prefer to keep political email subject to spam filters. I do my own research and decide

who and what I want to support without the constant bombardment of repetitious email. Keeping spam filters

effective for political emails would spare me from a daily "deletion fest" for unneeded and unwanted political.

Thank you for you kind attention,

Steven A. Yakes